I missed that somehow!

It has an OSU! logo so you know it's the real deal

According to the article, it's done for market research, i.e. finding out who buys what, which is a thing businesses like to know. But also apparently it allows the machine to generate "AI-powered product recommendations", which i guess means it tailors reccomendations to each user? Which it can do because it has a touch screen, and the touch screen itself already strikes me as full of shit.

That's what the article says this machine in particular does; but yes, it could totally change the price on you depending on what you look like, and all other kinds of deeply shady things. You can count on a private company to do that kind of thing and then use their favorite argument: it's technically legal.

i would have never thought of this in 1000 years lol

What's funny is that i ran this image through Nightshade to protect it against AI, whereas i posted to FA and E926 before AI was as big so that older version is clean. Apparently the bot doesn't get confused between the two versions which is great.

impressive

wait how?? does the bot find the furaffinity link and do a reverse image search? that's so cool and honestly overbuilt lol

Tons, and cinnamon, flour, and a little bit of salt. I find that the bread dilutes the flavor, so i overload the batter to compensate.

I don't like bland french toast

They can be fun as you play with your fursona, you're connecting with them by performing their species' stereotypes. But nobody takes them too seriously and they're dropped as soon as they go against something you wanted to do. Or they should be.

There's also a lot of character traits that 'feel right' even if they're not stereotypical, and i'm not just talking about subverting expectations. Lions IRL can be goofy, we've all seen them do something stupid in a documentary or whatever, so a goofy lion character feels fresh and truthful at the same time.

Do most artists draw art without expecting any money?

Definitely amateur artists don't expect money, but as you get better and more popular people tend to start offering money. The furry fandom is more serious about this than other online spaces, they pay more and will rarely ask for free art.

Do most artists do it as a side hustle in addition to a regular job? Is that exhausting?

Artists very often have a day job, but we as the audience are more likely to notice full-time artists because they tend to be more active and prolific. Being a more popular artist makes it easier to make it a full-time job, and making it their full-time job makes it easier to get popular.

What sort of “salary” could one reasonably expect from being dedicated to full-time drawing [furry] art?

Oh there was a survey going around on this topic actually. Behold, graphs and a spreadsheet. Most artists i know are broke.

If it’s meant to be your only source of income, how does your job security feel?

It's kind of a dream job and a lot of people want it, so supply is high and it can be hard to pay the rent with this. The quality standards are also pretty high. Add the fact that the economy isn't doing great and a lot of people don't have means to pay for as much art as they'd like. So no, i wouldn't guess it's a stable income.

Is it required to “get lucky”/“get noticed” in order to make any real amount of money?

My optimistic opinion is that putting out quality art consistently over time will get you noticed no matter what; i don't think luck is a factor, if the goal is profitability then catering to the audience's tastes is much more important.

The hard part is making quality art consistently. For one thing, not everyone lives in suitable conditions to work from home, that kind of luck is a factor.

If by "get noticed" you mean "get promoted by bigger artists", then yeah that helps a lot, but it's also possible to just grow on your own.

Is it fun, or does it become “work”?

It becomes work. Starting a drawing is a lot easier than finishing it, so it definitely requires discipline and work ethic.

But also, the kind of people with the inclination to draw for 8 hours a day are absolutely passionate about art and would do it anyway; and making art of a high enough quality to make a living requires the kind of practice that comes from drawing for 8 hours a day.

Any other interesting topics that I don’t know enough about to ask?

It's relatively common for artists to not consider themselves furry, but they draw anthros and therefore have a furry audience. Membership in the community is not required, all that is required is anthro animals.

But, when it comes to making a living, i do think it takes a furry to know the esthetic expectations and how to subvert them, even with AI art. And a lot of artists stay away from furry because of the negative associations, so competition is not as stiff as it could be. This is especially true for NSFW furry art, that's really a niche where you only go if it's what you're into.

The stereotype is just too perfect, you know? I'm sure there's a ton of furry hackers, but there's a lot more people who have heard of this stereotype and think it's funny.

I also think furry hackers would target the Repuclican National Convention or something

I did find a KazuK9 on Twitter, but i scrolled really far down their media tab and didn't see the tweet in this screenshot. Either they deleted it or it's an older meme. I did see a lot of furry femboy paws though.

Searching Faruk Kazuk with no other indication returned a lot of turkish-looking men.

I am gagging a little bit as i write this... There shouldn't be any cheese, not even a little bit. If there is, that's not normal.